Studies of Possible Controls on the Variability of Radon Potential of Two East Midlands Ironstones
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Studies of possible controls on the variability of radon potential of two East Midlands ironstones Chemical and Biological Hazards Programme Internal Report IR/06/128 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS PROGRAMME INTERNAL REPORT IR/06/128 Studies of possible controls on the variability of radon potential of two East Midlands ironstones E S Hodgkinson, C Scheib, D G Jones, and J Davis The National Grid and other Ordnance Survey data are used with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Ordnance Survey licence number Licence No:100017897/2012. Keywords Radon; ironstone; gamma spectrometry; autoradiography; radon emanation. Bibliographical reference HODGKINSON, E S, SCHEIB, C, JONES, D G AND DAVIS, J. 2012. Studies of possible controls on the variability of radon potential of two East Midlands ironstones. British Geological Survey Internal Report, IR/06/128. 104pp. Copyright in materials derived from the British Geological Survey’s work is owned by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and/or the authority that commissioned the work. You may not copy or adapt this publication without first obtaining permission. Contact the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Section, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, e-mail [email protected] You may quote extracts of a reasonable length without prior permission, provided a full acknowledgement is given of the source of the extract. © NERC 2012. All rights reserved Keyworth, Nottingham British Geological Survey 2012 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY The full range of Survey publications is available from the BGS British Geological Survey offices Sales Desks at Nottingham, Edinburgh and London; see contact details below or shop online at www.geologyshop.com Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG The London Information Office also maintains a reference 0115-936 3241 Fax 0115-936 3488 collection of BGS publications including maps for consultation. e-mail: [email protected] The Survey publishes an annual catalogue of its maps and other www.bgs.ac.uk publications; this catalogue is available from any of the BGS Sales Shop online at: www.geologyshop.com Desks. The British Geological Survey carries out the geological survey of Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the latter as an agency 0131-667 1000 Fax 0131-668 2683 service for the government of Northern Ireland), and of the e-mail: [email protected] surrounding continental shelf, as well as its basic research projects. It also undertakes programmes of British technical aid in geology in developing countries as arranged by the Department London Information Office at the Natural History Museum for International Development and other agencies. (Earth Galleries), Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DE The British Geological Survey is a component body of the Natural Environment Research Council. 020-7589 4090 Fax 020-7584 8270 020-7942 5344/45 email: [email protected] Forde House, Park Five Business Centre, Harrier Way, Sowton, Exeter, Devon EX2 7HU 01392-445271 Fax 01392-445371 Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, Colby House, Stranmillis Court, Belfast, BT9 5BF 028-9038 8462 Fax 028-9038 8461 Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB 01491-838800 Fax 01491-692345 Sophia House, 28 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ 029–2066 0147 Fax 029–2066 0159 Parent Body Natural Environment Research Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1EU 01793-411500 Fax 01793-411501 www.nerc.ac.uk Foreword The work detailed in this report was largely carried out under the Environmental Radioactivity project in the Chemical and Biological Hazards Programme between 2000 and 2005. The lead author left BGS in 2006 whilst this report was still unfinished. Emily had done a lot of good work on this and it deserved to be finished. Therefore Dave Jones continued this work in 2009 and Cathy Scheib then completed the report in 2012. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the following people and organisations for giving access to sites for sampling and testing: Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (for access to Brown’s Quarry, Holwell and Tilton cutting); Rockingham Forest Trust (for access to Twywell Country Park) and Peter Bennie Ltd (for access to Pitsford and Harlestone Quarries); Belvoir Estates, Scalford Lodge Farm and Ironstone Lodge and other farmers and landowners for access to other sites. Thanks also to: Barbara Vickers for carrying out iron speciation tests; Gren Turner for assistance in carrying out radon emanation studies; Simon Chenery for providing the ICP-MS data and for advice on statistical analysis; Simon Carter for XRFS analysis; Mark Barron for an introduction to some of the field sites; and Don Appleton for advice and for provision of radon potential data. Contents Foreword ......................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... i Contents ........................................................................................................................................... i 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 2 Previous work ......................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 Regional studies .............................................................................................................. 1 2.2 Mineralogical, geochemical and petrographic approaches ............................................. 2 3 Outline of present study ......................................................................................................... 2 4 Geological Setting ................................................................................................................... 2 5 Field investigations ................................................................................................................. 3 5.1 Early field studies, Summer 2000 ................................................................................... 3 5.2 2003 field studies ............................................................................................................ 5 5.3 Ground-Based Gamma spectrometry ............................................................................. 8 6 Laboratory-based studies .................................................................................................... 26 i 6.1 Petrographic studies: alpha radiography and SEM petrography .................................. 26 6.2 XRD .............................................................................................................................. 29 6.3 Summary and interpretation of SEM, autoradiography and XRD data ........................ 31 6.4 Bulk chemical analysis ................................................................................................. 32 6.5 Gamma spectrometry .................................................................................................... 37 6.6 Radon emanation experiments ...................................................................................... 39 7 Interpretation and discussion .............................................................................................. 43 7.1 Petrographic and alpha radiography observations ........................................................ 43 7.2 Relationship between U and radon emanation ............................................................. 44 7.3 Relationship between phosphate and radon .................................................................. 44 7.4 NSF summary ............................................................................................................... 44 7.5 MRF summary .............................................................................................................. 45 7.6 Assessment of field data in relation to radon potential map ......................................... 46 8 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 49 Appendix 1 Core logs - fieldwork 2003 ............................................................................... 51 Appendix 2 Field photographs ............................................................................................. 59 Appendix 3 List of samples and analyses ............................................................................ 63 Appendix 4 Chemical and other numerical laboratory data ............................................ 65 Appendix 5 SEM images ....................................................................................................... 74 Appendix 6 XRD spectra ...................................................................................................... 85 References .................................................................................................................................... 92 FIGURES Figure 1 Site Locations in the East Midlands where field investigation and sample collection were conducted in 2000 and 2003. ........................................................................................... 5 Figure 2 Site Locations